On this day in engineering history, Calvin Coolidge delivered the second radio address by a U.S. President from the White House. In a broadcast that
was heard coast-to-coast over 42 radio stations, Coolidge marked the birthday
of George Washington, the nation's first president, who had been born 192 years
ago on that same day. Though often regarded as a man of few words, "Silent
Cal" used radio to make his voice heard by more Americans than any of his
presidential predecessors. The taciturn Vermonter also used radio effectively
in his 1924 presidential campaign, appealing to the American people in a way
that President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) would perfect in his "fireside
chats" of the 1930s and 1940s.
The First Radio Broadcast by a Sitting President
Coolidge's speech of February 22, 1924 was one of several
significant radio-related events for the former vice president, who had ascended to the highest office in the land after Warren G. Harding
died while on a cross-country speaking tour. On December 6, 1923, "Silent Cal"
delivered the first radio address by a sitting president, a 41-minute message
to Congress that was broadcast from New
York City and transmitted over five radio stations. Unlike
most U.S.
presidents since FDR, Coolidge avoided the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol building
when delivering a speech which is now known as the State of the Union Address.
Fittingly perhaps, "Silent Cal's" remaining messages to Congress weren't even
delivered orally, but were sent to the Capitol in written form.
The First Radio Broadcast from the White House
Although some Internet resources claim that Calvin Coolidge's speech of February 22, 1924 was the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House, this is not the case. In Life and Time of Warren G. Harding: Our After-War President, historian Joe Mitchell Chapple provides a transcript of a Coolidge White House radio address from December 10, 1923. In this speech, which was broadcast nationally from the White House study, Coolidge eulogized his predecessor, Warren G. Harding, who had died the previous August. (Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Jerry Wallace for providing this information.)
The First Radio Broadcast by an Ex-President
Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio address almost a month after the first radio broadcast by an ex-president. On Armistice Day, 1923, former president Woodrow Wilson made a brief radio address from
Washington D.C. (though not from the White House). Five
years earlier, the Allies had celebrated their victory in World War I. According to
historian Richard Norton Smith, Wilson's
use of the new medium resulted in a decidedly low-tech phenomenon: the
gathering of a large crowd. When the ailing ex-President rose the following
morning, "to his astonishment he looked out into the street and there were
twenty thousand people, many of them kneeling irreverently before this man who
was seen as the great pilgrim of peace".
Internet Resources:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/jazz/radio_1
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rescue/sfeature/radio.html
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29564
http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/ccoolidge.html
| 
